Have a Six Flags Day!
by Merides
Summary: A short fic based on my recent trip to Six Flags, in which Wally West and Kyle Rayner find themselves the object of attention at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. What started as a short ficlet idea quickly grew to the mini-monster you see before you. R&R, please!
1. Chapter 1

Ok, so this started out as a silly story idea based on my recent trip to Six Flags with my real-life best friend and beta reader, MuffinQueen10. On the _looooong_ car trip home, I borrowed her laptop and started typing up a 'journal' of sorts about how funny we acted around the JL heroes. I honestly intended to only write a one-shot ficlet. Honest. It just kinda grew from there, and we have a 5 chapter story, full of humor, adventure, and utter fangirlness on my part. Ugh. I didn't realize how badly I have the disease known as 'typical fangirl' till I was done. Up until a certain point (which I'm not going to disclose- judge for yourselves where the fiction begins), Chapter 2 and beyond is a true story of what happened to MuffinQueen10 and me this past Tuesday. Chapter 1? Well… I'd like to hope…

Disclaimers and all that joyful stuff: I don't own Flash, GL, Batman, the Joker, or Six Flags (darn it!) so there you go.

I also don't own MuffinQueen10- much as I like to drag her into trouble, she _is_ her own person. She did contribute a Texas-sized lot to this story, by the way, especially in chapters 4 and 5, where she's being particularly brilliant and random. She's like that in real life, guys. Whenever she actually gets around to _actually posting stuff_ (hint hint MQ…), make sure you read her writing. She's great.

Oh, and I make no claims to owning myself. That would just be weird. I like to think I control my own actions, but… again, judge for yourself. I'm a hopeless fangirl, I think. Oh well. Nothing can be done to cure me at this point. I've discovered FF. Ha. So there.

One more thing: I don't own, but do mention, Kyer. ;)

I may have a picture from the trip as my avatar after Sunday, so keep your eye out for it. :D Just have to wait for the pictures to be uploaded and sent to me... *twiddles thumbs*

Now, after that long introduction, enjoy this silly little tale of Six Flags, and remember that little REVIEW button at the bottom of the page! Thanks all! -Merides

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HAVE A SIX FLAGS DAY!

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It had been a completely normal day for Wally. Work at the lab, patrol the city as the Flash, then up to the Watchtower to be teased mercilessly by the rest of the League. Nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, it had been one of the more boring days… he'd been assigned to monitor duty with Supes again. It had been fun to bother him mercilessly, as always, but still… he had been bored. Nothing had happened to brighten up his day.

Till now.

Kyle Rayner had showed up at the Watchtower. He'd been given some time off, and had headed back to Earth for a vacation. First, though, he'd stopped at the 'Tower to check on old friends. Wally had cornered him right away, and the two of them had spent the rest of the afternoon catching up. Usually, Wally wasn't assigned to non-Earth missions, so he loved hearing about Kyle's adventures… about all the people he met… all the girls he saved… all the places he'd been… all the girls he'd saved… Eventually, they decided to grab a bite at Kyle's favorite burger joint and continue their conversation in a more relaxed environment.

They talked long into the evening, reminiscing about missions they'd worked together on. Wally was halfway through his third plate of burgers when his comlink went off. J'onn's voice came through the small speaker. "Flash, there's a dimensional anomaly near your location. I know Kyle's there with you- I need the two of you to check it out." Wally groaned in mock agony. He sighed and looked over his plate to Kyle. "Mind checking out a 'dimensional anomaly' with me?" he asked, making quotes with his fingers.

"Not at all," Kyle replied with a smile. Wally tapped his com. "We're on our way, J'onn." Kyle grabbed another bite, Wally another two burgers, and, after leaving an amount on the table sure to more than cover the cost of their meal and the tip, they left the restaurant. Wally led the way, restraining his speed until they could find a more suitable location to change into costume.

A nearby alleyway served their needed purpose. Wally changed into the costume he'd stored in his ring, and Kyle switched into his uniform using his Green Lantern ring. Wally laughed at that irony, then winked at his friend. "Try to keep up."

Together, the two of them hurried to the location as J'onn relayed it to Flash via the comlink. It wasn't hard to spot- a giant, swirling hole in the ground, in the middle of the desert, near a deserted old mine. Typical. The fact that the Batjet was parked next to it also helped… just a little bit.

"Hey Bats!" Flash zipped next to the Dark Knight. "So… What's with this 'dimensional anomaly'? Anything we can fix?"

Batman directed a short glare at Flash, then returned to staring at a device in his hand. "It's been getting bigger. This seems to be an inter-dimensional link to a parallel world. I haven't been able to determine quite yet _which_ parallel world…"

"You have them all _cataloged_?" Wally interjected. Batman looked at him. "Right…" Wally said. "Of course you do. You're _Batman_, for cryin' out loud."

"So what's your plan?" Kyle asked.

"I've already sent a probe through. We should be receiving pictures very soon. Already, I've determined that the Parallel has similar atmospheric makeup, and that the coordinating dimensional link is in an urban area. Just a few more minutes and I'll be able to pinpoint where exactly it's located." The device in his hand began beeping.

Wally leaned over Batman's shoulder, his eyes widening at the picture. The Joker's smiling face filled the top half of the screen, while the background showed families walking around him, smiling, posing for pictures, and generally having a great time. "Dude… that's Joker… sort of…" Wally trailed off.

"We're going in after him. It's obvious that Joker found this one-dimensional portal before us, and has infiltrated the citizenry. We need to get him back to our world before he sets whatever plan he has in motion." Batman frowned deeply as he snapped the device closed.

"Right," Kyle said. "Go in, get Joker, and get back. I like it- short and simple."

"Not quite," Batman replied. "Somehow, no one's scared of Joker. He's probably used a gas or some sort of mind control to influence their thinking. If I know Joker, and I do, in their influenced state of mind, they'll not stand for any aggressive action towards him on our part. We'll need to be a bit more subtle." Batman pointed at the two of them. "I need the two of you to work the crowds. Get a feel for their thought processes. Are they scared? Are they under some sort of hypnosis? Let me know. I'll work the Joker angle. Once we find him, and get him out of their sights, we'll bring him home. Got it?"

"Yep."

"Count on me, Bats."

With a final, long Batglare at Wally, Batman stepped into the portal. Kyle energized his ring, creating a field of green protective energy around himself, and dove in. Wally looked around a final time, making sure no one was looking. Once assured of that fact, he cannonballed into the hole of swirling dimensionality.

***

Wally regained his hearing before his sight. Thunder, shouts, screams of pure terror, loud music and laughter assaulted him. He pressed his hands to his ears, opening and shutting his eyes in a futile attempt to see his surroundings. Thunder rolled past him again, accompanied by laughter and screaming. Moments later, the fastest man alive was pummeled with a gust of wind.

Finally, light and color slowly bled back into existence. Kyle held out a hand towards his friend, offering to help him stand. Wally took it gratefully, wavering slightly as he adjusted to the changed gravity and reestablished his equilibrium. He looked around for Batman, not seeing him anywhere nearby.

"Ugh… what happened, Kyle?" He held a hand to his head, trying to adjust.

"Not quite sure. Whatever happened, we're not near the dimensional portal any longer. I don't have a comlink or I'd try to contact Bats…" he said, pointedly.

"Oh, right. Hang on." Wally tapped the comlink. "Uh… Bats? Are you there?"

"Where. Are. You?" Batman's gravelly voice immediately answered. "I've been trying to contact you for over ten minutes."

"Uh… Sorry, Bats. Just got here, just regained vision and all… Your dimensional portal's a bit rough, buddy."

"Where ARE you?" Batman repeated.

Wally looked around. "Somewhere… next to a big… um…"

"Rollercoaster. Yellow Rollercoaster," Kyle supplied.

"Right- yellow rollercoaster. _Rollercoaster_? Really?" Wally's eyes lit up.

"We're in an amusement park of some sort," Batman replied. "Things are a bit strange here- I'm investigating. We need to find Joker as soon as possible. I want you two to stick to the plan- work the crowds, see if anything is out of the ordinary. I'll contact you when I can." He paused for a moment, just long enough for Wally to think the conversation was over. He jumped when Batman spoke again. "You won't need to change out of costume. Trust me on this one."

"Uh… ok, Bats. We'll let you know if we find anything." Wally ended the transmission.

"So?" Kyle prompted.

"We're in an amusement park."

"I gathered that."

"We're supposed to stick to the plan."

"Alright."

"We're supposed to stay in costume."

"Oh…. Kay…" Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"Bats said so. Don't ask _me_."

Wally looked around, getting a good concept of where they were. Thunder rolled by again- he recognized it now as the coaster. They were apparently somewhere behind the scenes- there were back doors, labeled in simple black letters all down one side of the alleyway they stood in. The other side of the street was blocked by a tall wooden fence- he could see the coaster through the gaps.

"What are you two doing here? You're supposed to be in Los Festivales _right now_!" A disgruntled park employee stormed up to them. "I know you two are new here and all, but you _really_ need to pay attention to your assigned schedules if you want to keep your jobs."

Kyle shifted from one foot to the other, immediately playing along. "Uh… right," he paused, looking at the nametag on their new manager's shirt, "Tim. We were just heading there. You know, new and all… we kinda got lost back here." Wally nodded enthusiastically.

"You sure did- How the _heck_ did you get this far from the locker room without someone letting me know? Now get your sorry selves over to the entrance and pose for the crowds, or there're going to be some disappointed families. Today's Tuesday. Some fans come just to see you two. Get out there. _NOW_."

"Right. Sorry. On our way." Kyle looked appropriately shamefaced.

"And what's with the costume, Gary? Did you take it home and add padding to it?" Tim directed his glare- rivaling the Batglare - at Wally. "You _know _the regulations about altering the suits."

"Uh… no… just been working out, is all," 'Gary' answered. He shrugged, his costume moving comfortably over his shoulders to demonstrate.

"Pretty durn fast job of it. Now you and Stu get out there." Tim pointed at the gate, sending the two heroes out into the 'real' world of the amusement park. They hurried out, following the signs to the entrance of the park, where they 'worked the crowd' by posing for pictures with kids, families, and screaming babies.


	2. Chapter 2

And now enters myself and my best friend. Like I said before, most of this is true… don't judge us _too_ harshly. ;) I've toned down our randomness a bit, by the way. You _really_ don't want to know how we act in person!

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I hugged my best friend, MuffinQueen10, as we walked towards the enormous gates of Six Flags Fiesta Texas. "We're finally here!" I said, laughing excitedly. We'd been planning this trip for ages, the two of us. I glanced over at her with jealousy - she wore a Batman shirt… I didn't own a single piece of Justice League merchandise. I was planning to remedy that problem as soon as I could.

"Do your best Superhero pose," one of our friends said, holding her camera up. The wind was blowing the wrong way- from behind us- and MuffinQueen's hair blew into her face. My hair was up in a high ponytail, and my sunglasses held the rest of it back, so I didn't have that problem, but I still gave my best Batglare impersonation and placed my hands on my hips. Our friend snapped a couple of pictures and we walked on- headed for the gates.

This was the first time the two of us had gone on a road trip together. I'd been to Fiesta Texas several years before, and MQ back a few years before that, but we'd never gone to a theme park of any sort together. The fact that it was Six Flags- the place where the Justice League was rumored to be enshrined- well, she and I were far too excited for words. I was crossing my fingers to meet my idol- Batman- while MQ was holding out for the Flash. Of course, we both knew we'd be satisfied with any of the League members, but there _were_ our favorites we'd love to meet.

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Six Flags Fiesta Texas is now open!" The crowd cheered as the music blared from the speakers, and the line began creeping towards the entrance. The two of danced along to the instructional music - "Shake your neighbor's hands, give them high five! Low five! Shake hands again!" We became confused about halfway through the song, laughing hysterically at our failed attempts. Our tickets in hand, we joined the throng entering the main gates.

Right away, we headed for the newest ride- The Goliath. We waited in line for a few minutes, thankfully not too long, and started the day with a great coaster ride. After screaming for fifty seconds of drops, corkscrews, loops, and zero-G rolls, we stumbled off the ramp to solid ground. Our faces were covered in matching grins. This was bound to be a great day.

***

After the coaster, our group separated by ride intensity. MQ and I stuck together- we had no desire to ride anything but coasters. As we were walking by the main gate -again- MQ tapped me on the shoulder.

"Did you… Do you see that? Look!" I turned in the direction she was pointing. The Joker stood nearby, sporting a hideous mask and too-short, wrong-shade-of-green hair. I yanked her over to stand next to him. "Get a picture!" I shouted at my friend with the camera.

"I will inform you," MQ said to the 'Joker', "_she's_ putting me up to this." I rolled my eyes. How many times in one's life is there an opportunity to get your picture taken with Batman's nemesis? We both smiled, the Joker posed very villainously -creepy claw hands and all- and the picture was snapped. _That one is going on Facebook_, I thought.

We grabbed drinks (gotta love the all-day free refills, right?) and started to head towards the Boomerang, when… _"Oh my gosh, it's FLASH!"_ The two of us struggled to restrain our inner fangirls as we hurried over to where the red-clad park employee stood with a forced smile on his face. We waited behind throngs of small children, their parents comforting those frightened of the 'fastest man alive'. Once it was our turn, we realized just why they might be scared of him.

'Flash' was getting a bit too much into character for my tastes. _Hands off, buddy_, I thought. _Waaaaay too friendly for someone I just walked up to, thank you very much. _The picture was snapped, and we walked away… very quickly. "That was NOT the real Flash," I muttered to MQ.

"I know," she replied with a shudder. "He wasn't even cute…" I nodded in agreement. Flash- _MY_ Flash- was far hotter… and not as grabby. Definitely not as grabby. I shuddered as well.

We did laugh about it though, when we realized that Flash and the Joker were within twenty feet of each other… and seemingly oblivious. They weren't even glaring at each other. "Fail. Epic, Justice League-sized fail," MQ said. I agreed. It was too bad. My inner fangirl wanted to see a Flash vs. Joker smackdown. Oh well. I still held out hopes for meeting Batman. So far, I hadn't seen him, but if the Joker was here…

After several more coasters, I ducked into the gift shop. There it was- the shirt to end all Batman shirts. 'Equipped and Ready' it said, underneath a stylized Bat-symbol. On the back was my favorite hero's silhouette, and 'Six Flags' in small letters. The best part was the huge '25% off' on the sign above it, of course. After grabbing a Bat-cape and a magnet sporting his cartoonized face, I walked out of the store $35 dollars poorer and several pieces of Bat Merchandise richer. MuffinQueen rolled her eyes at me as she bought one t-shirt (also with the Bat-logo). I rushed out of the store to the nearest restroom and emerged a few minutes later completely bedecked in my new Batman gear.

Soon, after we had enjoyed riding a few more rides and smiled down at the groups of children surrounding the Loony Tunes characters, we headed back towards the entrance of the park to meet our group for lunch. We grabbed another refill of our 64 oz. drink- water this time- and laughed our way back to where the Fake-Flash had been before.

This time, Flash was there with Green Lantern. It was, thankfully, a different Flash… a _much_ nicer looking Flash. I glanced over at the Green Lantern- Kyle Rayner, I assumed, unless the corps was recruiting other dark-brown-spiky-haired cuties… I did a double take. _Very_ nice. I made a mental note to go back and reread the Green Lantern comics that starred Kyle.

With no discussion needed, both of us hurried to join the line forming to take pictures. My camera-toting friend rolled her eyes, but joined us.

"_I'll take the green one, you take the red one_," MQ whispered to me, from our place at the end of the line. I took another long look at Flash. His eyes were bright blue… _very_ bright blue… and that smile… Alright then, I'd take Red. No argument there. Perhaps I'd go back and get a Flash t-shirt once we were done here…

Flash smiled down at the child next to him, giving him a huge hug and posing for the child's mother and her camera. Green Lantern was also being friendly with the kids, posing with his fist clenched, showing the famous ring. We waited patiently as the line moved along; grinning at the jokes Flash was cracking. Yep, I definitely liked this Flash better than the last one.

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I make no apologies for our utter fangirlness. Just so you know.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright, thanks! Have a great day!" Kyle grinned and waved at the 10-year-old girl sporting a Green Lantern hat. "Man, why don't we get this job all the time?"

"I know, right?" Wally posed with a small boy, both of them standing with arms raised to show their muscles. The boy gave his best attempt at a tough face, but once the picture had been taken, he grinned and jumped into Wally's arms, hugging him.

"Thanks, Flash," he whispered. "You're my favorite."

"Aw, no problem, kid. You have a good one, ok?" Wally ruffled the boy's hair and sent him off to his mother. He looked up at the long line, no end being in sight. "Let's keep the rabid fangirls back, folks!" he joked, reaching out to a young couple and shaking the man's hand. They smiled for the camera and walked away.

Batman's voice came through the comlink. "Flash. How's it going on your end?"

Wally stepped away for a moment, waving at Kyle to continue with the pictures. "Everything's fine. This is _great!_ I don't think there's anything wrong with these people at all, Bats. They're just here to have a good time… heck, _I'm_ having a good time. Everyone wants to take pictures with us… why don't we do this at home?"

"Keep your head together, Wally. You're looking for anything…"

"…Out of the ordinary," he interrupted. "I know, I know. But I haven't detected anything strange. I've been keeping an eye out, and Kyle's been doing scans on these people with his ring. The only thing out of the ordinary is high levels of adrenaline."

"That could be attributed to the thrill rides and rollercoasters. Keep on it. I want to find out what's going on here. And I can't find Joker anywhere."

"Right… I'll keep my eye out for him."

"Fine. Get back to it then and call me if you find anything. _Anything."_ The transmission ended.

Wally jogged _-slowly-_ back over to the photo shoot. The line had dissipated a bit, just two groups left, assuming no one else walked up. A large family walked quietly up, the little boy crying. They snapped the picture quickly and walked away.

A short brunette in a Batman shirt ran over, a huge grin on her face. "Could we make this one fun, guys? This'll be for Facebook," she said in place of a greeting. Wally smiled down at her, his face lighting up.

"Sure," he said, posing in a running position. Kyle grinned and pointed his fist, ring showing, at the camera. All three smiled froze in position, and the picture was captured.

"Thanks a lot!" she said. They'd obviously made her day. A blonde, also in a Batman shirt, ran up between the brunette and Kyle, smiling up at him. "The two of us together, please?" the brunette begged.

"It's the Bat-Twins!" Wally joked.

"Yep! Haven't seen _him_ yet, but it's really great to see you two," the brunette replied. Another pose, another picture, and then she walked away to the girl with the camera.

"One more solo shot," the blonde said. She smiled up at Kyle again.

"Sounds good," he answered, and they all, once again, smiled for the camera. He clapped her on the shoulder after the picture was taken. "Have a good one!"

The girls waved and walked off, laughing.

"Man, I_ love_ our job," Wally said.

***

"Did you catch that?" I asked. "He called us the 'Bat-Twins'! How cool was that?"

MQ laughed. "I just remembered that I've loved the Kyle Rayner GL since I was like, four. I'm going to have to go back and read his stuff again."

"I know…" I replied with a sigh. "GL was so hot…"

"Hey! Back off my man!" she said, slapping me across the shoulder playfully. "You take blue eyes. I get green eyes." She laughed. "I have green eyes, too… could you imagine…?"

I laughed at how silly we sounded, yet couldn't stop thinking about Flash's smile… he was just so… _cute!_ And far nicer than the first Flash- the one we'd already dubbed 'Fake-Flash'. This Flash had actually posed in a running position… he was just too cute for words…

I took the camera from my friend, reviewing the pictures to see myself next to him. Yep, there was the new Facebook profile picture… and perhaps the new avatar. Kyer would be so jealous, I thought, thinking of the new friend I'd made on FF.

Over lunch, the two of us discussed the two heroes we'd suddenly become fans of. I felt slightly miffed that I'd become exactly the type of fangirl I usually despised, but was willing to let that go for the moment. I still had my Batman shirt on, and the cape, and the magnet in my bag… But it was a certain red-clad hero that held my full attention at this point. I thought back to the shoulder-hug he'd given me as I'd left… and frowned. Those hadn't been foam pads, had they? Was he really that…? Wait…

"MQ- Did your Kyle have really, _really,_ too-real-to-be-padding muscles?" I asked in confusion.

"Yeah… I think that might be part of why I remembered I liked him…"

"Get a _hold_ of yourself. Think about it. Fake-Flash used padding. And his zipper stuck out, like, ten inches from his head. Did you even _see _a zipper on our guys?"

"What are you saying? That these two might be the _real_ Flash and GL?"

"Well…"

She laughed at me. "Meri, you've got a serious problem. We're at _Six Flags_. One in six guys that work here dresses as one of the Supers. These two just happen to be better looking, and apparently work out. That doesn't make them the real ones."

"Yeah, I know, but still…"

"Hey, I don't mind imagining that, but they're not the real ones, and you know it. If they were, we'd see some majorly evil plot around here." She grinned at me.

I looked around as if expecting to see said evil plot. Rides still ran all around us, people still enjoyed a great time… It was a typical day at Six Flags. "What better place for a bad guy to have a nefarious plot?" I quipped. I was joking with her now- I knew the futility of my Mary-Sue dreams.

Still… it didn't stop me from glancing around at the tops of the buildings around me, looking up at the theater roof, the tops of the rides, and behind doorways as we passed by them after lunch. I think it was because I was 'on alert' that I spotted him.

There, on the rooftop of the Rockville City Hall, I saw the dark silhouette of Batman.

"MQ… Didja… didja…_ look_!" I tugged on her sleeve and pointed.

"What?!" She whirled on me, annoyed by this point at my teasing her about 'green eyes'. She looked up where I pointed, but he was gone. "Merides. Come _on. _You've _seriously_ lost it."

"No, really! I saw Batman! Up there!"

"Honey, the only Bats around here are in your head."

Ignoring her, I grabbed her hand and dragged her around to the back of the City Hall. Checking that no one was looking, we ducked behind the fence.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," she said, rolling her eyes. I just kept pulling her in the general direction I'd assumed he went. Something was up, and I was going to find out what.


	4. Chapter 4

The comlink in Wally's ear went off, and he jumped. He waved at Kyle to keep 'working the crowd' and ducked behind the pillar. Again.

"What's up?" he asked, pressing a hand to his com.

"Two girls have gotten too close to the dimensional portal. I need one of you to intercept them before they get in trouble. We've got too much to worry about without putting the local populace in trouble."

"Did they see you or something?"

There was a tell-tale pause before his reply. "Flash, just get the job done. Oh, and you can't reveal your powers… so maybe Kyle should go… these people might get suspicious if they see you disappear in a red blur."

"Aw…" he sighed in disappointment. "Did you find Joker?"

"Yes and no. It wasn't really him. Apparently we, and many people from our world, are idolized and imitated in this world."

"So the plan is…?"

"Just go stop those girls for the moment. Kyle knows where the portal is."

"Right. Go get girls. I can do that!" He grinned and walked back over to Kyle, waiting till the picture was taken before leaning over to talk softly to his friend. "There's a bit of … trouble… in the form of a couple of girls and our … ride home, so to speak."

"So the Big Guy wants us to go stop them?"

"Yeah… well, no. He wants _you_ to go stop them… basically, we can't show that we're really us, if you know what I mean." Wally rolled his eyes under the mask.

Kyle nodded and raised his voice. "Last picture," he said to the crowd. "Sorry folks, but we've got to go. It's been great, but we're needed… to… _save the world_ and all that!" The gathered masses groaned, but apparently had a good attitude about it.

The two heroes smiled and posed heroically, then jogged off together. "How… Wha?" Wally asked.

"Fat chance I'm leaving you behind. Knowing you, you'd find your _own_ way to get away from the crowds and beat me to the portal." He paused. "Even though you don't know where it is."

"Whatever. Let's just get there before they do." Once they reached an entry marked 'employees only', they left all pretense of hiding. A red and green blur passed behind the scenes of Six Flags, headed for Rockville.

***

A giant, swirling hole in the ground attracted my attention, distracting me momentarily from my search for the Batman. I let go of MQ's sleeve- she was following me anyway, at this point- and I stepped a bit closer.

"What in the world…?" I asked to no one in particular.

"It looks like a … no… it couldn't be… not even possible." MQ started and stopped, and I gave her 'the look'. "Fine. It looks like a trans-dimensional portal."

"It looks like a swirly hole in the ground."

"No, you see the edges? Our ground- here…" she pointed at the outermost edge. "…and the other dimension's ground - there…" she pointed further in, where the ground colors were reversed.

"And you know that because of the color."

"Among other things. You seriously need to watch more Sci-Fi movies."

I scanned the rooftops once more, and, after seeing no sign of Batman, turned back to look at MQ's 'portal'. I stepped a bit closer, kneeling next to the edge so I could get a better view. "Whatever it is, it's really cool… in a swirly, gigantic hole-type of way."

"Hey! I know my stuff when it comes to abnormal … stuff… like this."

"Right."

"Seriously! Look, if Hugh Everett's Multiverse Theorem is correct, our universe we live in is stacked up against, say six, other parallel worlds very similar to our own. The only differences being something along the lines of the Axis powers winning World War Two, or waffles never being discovered." She held her hands up defensively as I shot her another 'look' at the Waffle remark.

"Yeah, I know, it's the first thing that popped in my head, ok? The point still stands, there's a rip in the walls between our world and another. On one hand, this is _insanely_ awesome! I mean, we actually have proof that the Multiverse Theorem is right! On the other, it's rather odd that this tear happened in a theme park… and we haven't seen anything come out of it from the other world… But, on the other, other hand, and _yes,_ I know that's three hands, this is _verrryyy_ bad. Rips in parallel worlds are not good news…" she trailed off, muttering to herself.

Something bright and colorful flashed in the corner of my eye. I whipped my head to see what it was… and lost my balance. I reached out my right hand to set it on the ground to steady myself and missed completely, sending the whole of my weight into the portal. My last conscious thought was that I sure as heck hoped it was a portal… and that I wasn't falling to my doom.

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Dum Dum Duuuummm.....

I have my own theories about what Batman was doing during this whole story... what he did when he found the Fake-Joker... and how he reacted when I saw him... I'm not sayin', though. ;)


	5. Chapter 5

"Meri!" the blonde yelled, grabbing her friend's leg. She glanced up, just in time to see Wally and Kyle running and flying towards her. "Help me!" she shouted, but they were just a fraction of a second too late. Wally watched helplessly as the two girls disappeared into the dimensional portal.

"That was the Bat-Twins…" he said to Kyle.

"Your point? C'mon!" Kyle dove in after the girls, surrounding Wally in green energy and pulling him in to the hole.

Wally's experience travelling inter-dimensionally was different this time- in the ring's protective energy, he could actually see one dimension bleed into the other. He wasn't focused on the scientific aspects of the journey, though; he could see the two girls far ahead of him, falling through the portal to what he hoped was _his_ world.

Kyle picked up the pace, gaining on the now-unconscious girls. "How did Bats manage to stay awake?" Wally asked, breaking the silence.

"Training, I suppose. He's Batman. He's allowed a few… abilities, I'd think. I bet he specializes in trying to amaze us with new and improved skills. Now _concentrate!_ We've got to catch up to them!"

"Uh... right."

"I mean it. These dimensional portals mess with your thought processes. You have to concentrate on the goal at hand."

"Get girls. Get girls. Get girls. Get girls."

***

I felt hard ground – I _hoped _it was ground – against my back. I groaned, opening my eyes to blackness… strangely devoid of any sense but touch. I couldn't hear anything, I realized, as I attempted to hear myself make some sort of noise again. I felt nothing but the surface I was laying on. Something was terribly wrong.

Like a tickling in the back of my mind, I heard a soft yell- the oxymoronic statement amused me momentarily- a soft yell from somewhere nearby. It sounded something like "Hive hound-er," but I was more aware of the fact that I could _hear_ than the words than what they actually were saying. I felt something moving me- arms?- and the feeling of flat ground disappeared. I realized someone was lifting me up only a split second before feeling like I was back on a rollercoaster. Air rushed past my face- I could tell my rubber band was coming out of my hair, as strands tickled my skin. It bothered me that I was limp still- I had no control over much of my body. I knew that my eyes were squeezed shut- if they weren't, they'd be drier than a desert at the speed I must be travelling… speed… _speed?! _I was RIGHT. It WAS the real Flash. HA. Take that, MQ.

Then the gravity of the situation occurred to me.

If Flash was saving me, that meant that I'd gotten into some sort of trouble, and probably pulled MQ into that selfsame trouble… and that the world- _our_ world- was in trouble, as well. (I now realize how blatantly obvious that my deduction was… just keep in mind that I had just fallen through a dimensional portal, folks.)

My sluggish mind notwithstanding, I knew that this time, I wasn't going to have the option to turn off the TV if the peril was too great for my tastes.

***

Wally skidded to a stop next to Kyle and the blonde. "Found her. She's waking up, I think." He laid the brunette gently on the ground beside her friend.

Kyle nodded in thanks, his hand supporting the other girl as she sat up groggily. "You all right? Steady, now… slowly…"

"I'm fine, thanks," the blonde answered. She looked slowly around, taking in Kyle, Wally, and her friend, lying motionless beside her. "Meri! Is she…?"

"She's fine… uh…" Wally trailed off.

"MuffinQueen."

"What?"

"Well, MuffinQueen10, actually, but my friends call me MQ."

Kyle glanced over at Wally, who just shrugged.

MQ became defensive. "Hey- I _like_ my name. You only get to choose your name every so often, and who doesn't like Muffins? Muffins are delicious and made of awesome… so I'm the Queen of Muffins! … and the 10 was cuz … I like the number 10, ok?"

"You get to … choose… your names." Wally's voice held disbelief.

"You don't in this dimension?"

The brunette groaned.

***

I heard the conversation as if from a far distance, slowly coming closer. By the time I heard MQ's sarcastic answer about the names and dimensions, I had regained full hearing… as close as I could tell. I still couldn't see, but I _could_ answer her. I spoke into the blackness that surrounded me. "That would be your 'Minor differences between the Multiverses', MQ. And I told you they were really Flash and GL."

I opened my eyes and saw nothing… still. Wait… I could see lighter colored patches in the darkness. Great. I wasn't _completely_ blind. That was something to be thankful for. I attempted to sit up, pushing myself up with my arms. Before I could get very far, I felt someone's hand on my back, helping me. Turning my head, I got the impression of a big, bright red blurry body. Flash, then. "Thanks," I muttered, as he helped me sit up.

"Carefully, now," he replied. My inner fangirl hoped I regained full vision soon… I wanted to see that smile again. My more sane self wondered what I was going to do now that I'd managed to get myself into the world where comic book characters existed in real life. Either way, I needed to see.

"Hey… You ok?" I heard him ask. I held a hand to my head, trying to stop the sudden dizziness that assaulted my now-vertical self.

"Yeah, I think so… I will be, anyway. MQ- are you alright? I can't see…" I said, stating the obvious.

I heard her to my left, about the same height- I assumed she was in a similar position as I was. "Yeah, I'm cool." She paused, then spoke up again, a smile in her voice. "You're free of the carbonite. You have hibernation sickness... your eyesight will return in time..."

"You did _not_ just make a Star Wars reference."

"Glad to know it wasn't just me," Flash said quietly.

"Wha? The Star Wars quote?" I asked, not the cleverest comeback, I admit, but I was still out of it, so cut me some slack.

"Naw- the same eyesight loss thing happened to me… thought the rollercoasters were thunder. No biggie. You'll both be fine. Meri, was it?"

"Merides… it means 'Water Lily'. Meri for short."

He started to answer me, but Green Lantern interrupted him. "We need to get them back to their dimension ASAP. They don't belong here, and you know it, Wa- Flash."

"Aww…" he whined. "Yeah, you're right, as always…" he paused. "Still, give them time to recover from the first trip, ok?"

"In a few minutes, they'll be fine. Then we'll take them back." GL's tone was firm.

"Um… hello?" MQ said. I was sure she was waving her hand in GL's face, if I knew my friend. "Sitting right here? Thank you. Now, I don't know about you, Meri, but I'd like some answers… Yeah, yeah, thanks for saving us and all- great job there. Oh, and Mer? Great job knocking the two of us into the 'pit of despair' and all."

"Despair? I beg to differ, MQ." I laughed at her tone of voice. "You were the one who was wishing we could meet the _real_ Wally and Kyle. I just managed to make it happen." _Oops. Smart one, Meri. Yeah… let's reveal the supers' secret identity right away. Niiiice._ I mentally berated myself for my stupidity. I'd not been in the company of my new heartthrob five minutes, and I'd already broken Rule Number One of the Superhero's Girl Handbook. 'Never reveal that you know their secret identity unless absolutely necessary.'

"What?!" I imagined three heads- one blonde, one dark-brown-spiky-haired, and one red-masked with a smile to die for- whipping around to stare at me. MQ's tone was offended, probably at the insinuation that she couldn't have met the real guys herself. The others… well… I could imagine that I suddenly was _not_ on the 'good' list of gals. _Drat._

MQ saved me from having to explain how I knew their names… for now. I was sure _that_ conversation would eventually come up, though. "Look, Meri, I can handle myself and you know it. Now, guys, I've got a couple of things I need answered before we get packed up and sent home."

My eyesight was slowly returning, and I could see her sitting over to my left, the yellow Bat-symbol on her shirt a bright patch in a dark area I assumed was both her black shirt and GL's. He was helping her sit up, like I'd assumed, kneeling next to her as Flash was with me. Oh yeah. Flash. I turned my head and he was next to me… My mind went blank for a short moment, a huge fangirl _squeeeeeeee_ my only coherent thought.

When I came back to reality, MQ was saying something nerdily brilliant. "…okay, so the portal could only be made by some majorly advanced tech... unraveling the fabric of space-time, actually. Seeing as this world is from _our_ comic books and cartoons, it'll probably be in the form of some honker ray-gun thing, just to be cliché. In fact, it probably emits REALLY high levels of radiation, destabilizing the atoms in the air, which accounts for the fact that there's a bit of a glowy hum-y type aura thingamabob around the portal, there."

I laughed. "Really, MQ? Nice technical terms, there. 'glowy hum-y type aura thingamabob'. Run that by me one more time. And then tell my why Batman, the most amazing detective, like, _EVER_, didn't see said 'aura thingamabob'. Assuming that it _was_ him I saw, like I said back at the park, and that I'm looking at his jet, over there." My eyesight had returned enough to recognize the shape, if not the details. It _had_ to be the Bat-jet. _Oh, please, oh please, ohplease let it be the Bat-jet._

"I bet we couldn't see the radiation before because we hadn't been through the portal yet," Flash supplied. GL raised an eyebrow. _How come the masks move with their facial expressions in this world, and not in ours?_ "It's a theory…" Flash defended himself.

"So…" GL said, "We're looking for a ray-gun, then. Right… lemme just do a scan." Green energy engulfed the general area as he scanned the desert with his ring. I could tell he didn't believe MQ… heck, _I_ didn't fully understand her theory, and wasn't sure I believed it, but, having known her far-fetched ideas to be true in the past, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. And I was glad I had, for a few seconds later, GL spoke with disbelief in his voice. "There's some sort of higher-level tech in the mine."

"Told ya." I rolled my eyes at MQ's retort.

"How did you know?" he asked, somewhat impressed.

"Physics major. And I watch a lot of the SciFi channel…" she replied. I was satisfied to see her face redden at his smile. It was good to see that I wasn't the only one affected by these two…

***

We managed to convince them to let us tag along as they investigated. As MuffinQueen had predicted, it _was_ a giant ray-gun, straight out of the classic hero stories of our world. Thankfully, I was able to get my moment of smart-fangirl satisfaction… I was already far too jealous of MQ's brilliant deduction about the dimensional portal.

As the four of us stood around the ray-gun, something caught my eye, down a bit lower than eye-level, hidden under a projecting shelf of machinery. For once, I was glad that my short stature allowed me to see things the guys- who stood over a foot taller than me- couldn't see. Namely, a triangular 'L'. More specifically, the logo of…

"Lexcorp. It was Lex Luthor. Or, at least, his tech." I felt a moment of pride at my discovery. Then it hit me. _Lex. Luthor. LEXCORP._ We weren't dealing with a pitiful attempt at imitating the Joker, like the clown in the mask this morning. No, this was _real._ I looked over at Flash- he wasn't smiling anymore. _Darn it._

"This is _way_ out of my league, Kyle." His voice held a joking tone no more. Wally West- my hero, Flash- was deadly serious. "Car chases and Damsels in Distress is more my thing. Luthor and World-in-danger situations? That's a job for Superman…"

"…Or Batman," Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern, finished. "I'm with you- we need to go back, take the girls home, and get him." I felt slightly satisfied that I'd been right: Batman _was _in our world.

MQ and I moaned in unison at the thought of leaving, but I think we both understood his point. Watching Justice League and reading the comic books was one thing… but living the life? That was something better saved for daydreams. Still… it would have been nice if, just this once…

GL encased us in ring-energy and flew down to the dimensional portal again. Flash met us there, but GL shook his head. "You stay here and watch the gun, in case _whoever_ set that thing off comes back. I'll take the girls home, and bring Bats back with me."

I looked over at Flash in disappointment. He gave me that million-dollar-smile again, and I felt my cheeks warm. I walked over next to him and held out my hand. "It was great, Flash. Thanks for everything… you made my fangirl heart happy." I tried to smile back at him. He reached out and grasped my hand, then pulled me into a friendly (thankfully not flirty) hug.

"Nice to meet you, too. Take care back in your world, ok?" He hugged MQ, as well, grinned at us, and then zipped off, back to the mine. I watched him go with quite a bit of sadness. I wouldn't forget that smile.

Green energy surrounded us once again, and then we were falling through the portal. This time, thankfully, I was awake, although my mind began to follow strange thought patterns. I guessed it had something to do with the swirls of color that made up the portal walls, but that was just a theory. MQ probably knew all about it, darn her and her physics major.

We exited the portal back behind the scenes of Six Flags Fiesta Texas. My mind was still slightly fuzzy as GL said his goodbyes. I remember saying something not-so-clever and MQ punching me in the shoulder. I also remember catching a glimpse of a man-sized black shadow jumping into the portal, accompanied by the sound of a flapping cape. Then GL was gone. We watched the portal for a few minutes, until it disappeared.

"Well," I said, "they never asked how we knew their names." MQ laughed at me as we walked back into the public area of the theme park.

"Seriously? That's all you can think of?"

"Well, I'm also thinking that I'll never forget that smile…"

"I'm thinking that no one will ever believe us."

THE END


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